ASU research from around the world
ASU scientists and collaborators sample one of the numerous "Pozas Rojas" (Red Pools) in the desert oasis of Cuatro Cienegas, Mexico. These pools vary tremendously in temperature (from freezing in winter to 40 C in summer) and salinity (from relatively fresh to encrusted with salt) during the annual season but nevertheless are full of diverse and fully functional microbial communities that are studied under ASU's NASA-funded Astrobiology program.
ASU associate professor Hilairy Hartnett (green shirt) and collaborators sampling the spectacular Poza Azul ("Blue Pool") in the desert oasis of Cuatro Cienegas, Mexico.
This pool supports diverse microbial assemblages that form reef-like mats similar to those known as "stromatolites" in the fossil record. Perhaps uniquely on Earth, these "living stromatolites" support a food web that includes higher animals such as snails and endemic cichlid fishes. Scientists with ASU's NASA-funded Astrobiology program study these stromatolites as analogues of life on early Earth.
ASU Regents' Professor Jim Elser preparing to sample Green Lake 4 in the
Rocky Mountains, near Nederland, CO. This lake, like others along the Colorado Front Range, receives elevated deposition of limiting nitrogen (N) from air pollution derived from nearby cities and agriculture.
Based on studies from Elser's lab, these "airshed" inputs have fundamentally altered the functioning of these and other lake ecosystems receiving regional air pollution, despite the pristine conditions of their watersheds.
ASU Regents' Professor Jim Elser sampling Blue Bird Lake near Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. This lake, like others along the Colorado Front Range, receives elevated deposition of limiting nitrogen (N) from air pollution derived from nearby cities and agriculture.
Based on studies from Elser's lab, these "airshed" inputs of N have fundamentally altered the functioning of these and other lake ecosystems receiving regional air pollution, despite the pristine conditions of their local watersheds.
Undergraduate researcher Laura Steger sampling a lake in southwestern Norway. This lake, like others in this part of Norway, receives elevated deposition of limiting nitrogen (N) from air pollution derived from cities and agriculture in other parts of Europe.
Based on studies from Elser's lab, these "airshed" inputs of N have fundamentally altered the functioning of these and other lake ecosystems receiving regional
air pollution, despite the pristine conditions of their local watersheds.
Scientists from ASU and the University of Oslo process lake water samples in a make-shift laboratory in a sheep barn on a working dairy farm in southwestern Norway as part of their study southern part of Norway, the group later also set up an improvised laboratory in a ski-waxing hut.
Left to right: Trine Holm (graduate student, U of Oslo), Marcia Kyle (technician, ASU), Michelle McCrackin (grad student, ASU), and Laura Steger (undergraduate, U of Colorado).
ASU associate professor Hilairy Hartnett (left), high school volunteer Stephen Elser (center) and postdoctoral researcher Amisha Poret-Peterson process samples of microbial communities from Washburn Spring at Yellowstone National Park.
As part of ongoing work within ASU's NASA-funded Astrobiology project, the researchers seek to understand how microbial life copes with extremes of temperature, pH, and chemical imbalances in the diverse hot springs of the national park.
For more information on Elsers’s research, visit http://www.elserlab.asu.edu/index.html,
http://sols.asu.edu/faculty/jelser.php and http://stoichiometry.wordpress.com/.
ASU researcher Steven Ruff (right) and Vicki Mills, an ASU masters student, collect spectra of hot spring deposits near Steep Cone in the Sentinel Meadow of Yellowstone National Park. Ruff’s research involves measuring the infrared spectra of hot spring deposits known as silica sinter for comparison to infrared spectra collected by the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) on the Spirit Rover.
The Mini-TES identified similar deposits next to the "Home Plate" feature in Gusev crater on Mars. By comparing the Mini-TES spectra to those measured in Yellowstone and elsewhere, we hope to establish whether the silica deposits discovered by Spirit were produced by ancient hot springs on Mars.
Alberto Behar stands on the skid of a helicopter to deploy one of the GPS roving units in a heavily crevassed region to measure glacier front motion. The unit sends corrected GPS motion to a base station.
This work involves developing instrumentation that helps to characterize the dynamics of ice motion in rapid discharge areas (large fast moving glaciers) of Greenland. By understanding how the changing climate might be affecting this motion can give us information to understand and forecast the future state of these glaciers. Increasing rapid motion and ice loss (by calving and melting) could have future implications for global sea level.
Alberto Behar’s team investigating the structure and dynamics of moulins, rivers that penetrate the ice sheet, and their impact on glacier movement. For more information about Behar and his work, visit: http://sese.asu.edu/people/alberto-behar and eis.jpl.nasa.gov/~behar.
Toasting a job well done, (left to right) Ron Amundson from the University of California Berkeley, Matt Jungers, an Ph.D. student in ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration and ASU professor Arjun Heimsath had finished trenching across several layers of million-year-old salt to collect samples to date in the lab. The ages determined for such samples are helping untangle how Chile's Atacama Desert became the driest and most lifeless place on the planet. They also study the surface of this desert as a way to help understand the processes that may be active on the surface of Mars.
Arjun Heimsath (right) and a Chilean mining geologist locate landmarks on a map, while Ron Amundson from UC Berkeley uses binoculars to examine the details of the El Tesoro mine. Heimsath’s age dating is helping determine a souce region for the copper bearing gravels that the mine is exploiting.
Ph.D. student Matt Jungers entering “The Valley of the Salt,” a landscape carved into pure salt. We were exploring this region to collect samples that will help us understand the paleoclimatic history of the Atacama Desert in Chile. Arjun Heimsath’s website is http://www.public.asu.edu/~aheimsat/.
Professor Heimsath also traveled to Australia to work with colleagues Tony Dosseto and professor Allan Chivas from the University of Wollongong, shown traversing a bedrock knickpoint on the Ord River, near Kununurra, Australia.
The professors are studying how quickly rivers such as this one are responding to climate change and human impacts and northwestern Australia offers ideal field sites to focus upon. The bedrock stretch seen in the photo is smoothed by river erosion and samples collected from such surfaces can tell us the rate at which rivers cut through rock.
Spinifex covered hillslope adjacent the bedrock rise into Bungle Bungle National Park, Kimberley Range of northwestern Australia. ASU professor Arjun Heimsath’s work across landscapes such as these have quantified how quickly rock turns to soil in an extreme desert setting and how the erosion rates acting on the surface reflect climatic forces.
Ph.D. student Zach Swander collected a sample from saltwater crocodile infested sand bar of the Ord River. Such a sample is analyzed in the lab to yield a measure of average erosion rate for the watershed draining to that point. The "Salties" are a serious danger in that region and researchers are keeping a watchful eye and ear when exploring and collecting samples from such lowland areas.
ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration Ph.D. students Wendy Bohon and Nathaniel Borneman take a break along the trail to enjoy the view of spectacular geology and scenery in the Karakoram Mountains of the western Himalaya in India. The students are being advised by Kip Hodges and are on their way to study the deformation history recorded in the rocks and landscapes of the region.
ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration Ph.D. student Nathaniel Borneman and Ladakhi horsemen begin the arduous task of excavation across a possible recent earthquake rupture zone along the Karakoram Fault—a major structure of the western Himalaya in India.
ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration Ph.D. student Wendy Bohon collects rock samples to determine the age of landforms offset along the Karakoram Fault—a major structure of the western Himalaya in India.
After the hard digging work is over, researchers have a view of the sediments possibly offset by recent earthquake ruptures along the Karakoram Fault—a major structure of the western Himalaya in India. For more information, visit: http://geomorphology.sese.asu.edu/ and http://tectonics.asu.edu/.